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Chishti Order

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The Chishtī Order (Persian: چشتی - Čištī) (Arabic: ششتى - Shishti) is a Sufi order within the mystic Sufi tradition ofIslam. It began in Chisht, a small town near Herat, Afghanistan about 930 CE. The Chishti Order is known for itsemphasis on love, tolerance, and openness.[2]

The Chishti Order is primarily followed in Afghanistan and South Asia. It was the first of the four main Sufi orders(Chishti, Qadiriyya, Suhrawardiyya and Naqshbandi) to be established in this region. Moinuddin Chishti introducedthe Chishti Order in Lahore (Punjab) and Ajmer (Rajasthan), sometime in the middle of the 12th century AD. Hewas eighth in the line of succession from the founder of the Chishti Order, Abu Ishq Shami. There are now severalbranches of the order, which has been the most prominent South Asian Sufi brotherhood since the 12th century.[3]

In the last century, the order has spread outside Afghanistan and South Asia. Chishti teachers have establishedcenters in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and South Africa. Devotees include both Muslimimmigrants from South Asia and Westerners attracted to Sufi teachings.

Guiding principlesThe Chishti are perhaps best known for the welcome extended to seekers who belong to other religions. Chishtishrines in South Asia are open to all faiths and attract great crowds to their festivals.The Chishti shaykhs have also stressed the importance of keeping a distance from worldly power.[4] A ruler could bea patron or a disciple, but he or she was always to be treated as just another devotee. A Chishti teacher should notattend the court or be involved in matters of state, as this will corrupt the soul with worldly matters. In his lastdiscourse to his disciples, Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti said:

“Never seek any help, charity, or favors from anybody except God. Never go the court of kings, but never refuse to bless and help the needyand the poor, the widow, and the orphan, if they come to your door. ”

Chishti believe that this insistence on otherworldliness differentiates them from Sufi orders that maintained close tiesto rulers and courts, and deferred to aristocratic patrons.Chishti practice is also notable for sama: evoking the divine presence through song or listening to music.[5] Some Muslims believe that music is haram; forbidden to Muslims. The Chishti, as well as some other Sufi orders, believe that music can help devotees forget self in the love of Allah. However, the order also insists that followers observe

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the full range of Muslim obligations; it does not dismiss them as mere legalism, as some strands of Sufism havedone.[6] The music usually heard at Chisti shrines and festivals is qawwali.

PracticesThe Chishtis follow five basic devotional practices (dhikr).[7]

1.1. Reciting the names of Allāh loudly, sitting in the prescribed posture at prescribed times (jhikr-i djahr)2.2. Reciting the names of Allāh silently (jhikr-i khafī)3.3. Regulating the breath (pās-i anfās)4.4. Absorption in mystic contemplation (murā-ḳāba)5.5. Forty days of spiritual confinement in a lonely corner or cell for prayer and contemplation (čilla)

LiteratureEarly Chishti shaykhs adopted concepts and doctrines outlined in two influential Sufi texts: the ʿAwārif al-Maʿārif ofShaykh Shihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī and the Kashf al-Maḥdjūb of Hudjwīrī. These texts are still read and respectedtoday. Chishti also read collections of the sayings, speeches, poems, and letters of the shaykhs. These collections,called malfūẓāt, were prepared by the shaykh's disciples.[8]

Spiritual lineage

Die with the genealogy of the Chishti Order fromMuhammad and Ali to Moinuddin Chishti,

Louvre Museum

Sufi orders trace their origins ultimately to the Islamic prophetMuhammad, who is believed to have instructed his successor inmystical teachings and practices in addition to the Qur'an or hiddenwithin the Qur'an. Opinions differ as to this successor. Some Sufiorders trace their lineage to Abu Bakr, the first Sunni caliph, others to'Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, Muhammad's cousin, whom the Shi'a regard as thefirst imam. The Chishti, though Sunni, trace their lineage through Ali.This is not unusual for Sufi orders, which tend to stress devotion ratherthan legalism and sectarianism.

The traditional silsila (spiritual lineage) of the Chishti order is asfollows:[9]

1. 'Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib (Ali, the cousin of Muhammad)2. Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (d. 728, an early Persian Muslim theologian)3. 'Abdul Wāḥid Bin Zaid Abul Faḍl (d. 793, an early Sufi saint)4.4. Fuḍayll ibn 'Iyāḍ Bin Mas'ūd Bin Bishr al-Tamīmī5. Ibrāhīm bin Adham (a legendarly early Sufi ascetic)6.6. Ḥudhayfah al-Mar'ashī7.7. Amīnuddīn Abū Ḥubayrah al-Baṣrī8.8. Mumshād Dīnwarī9. Abu Ishaq Shamī (d. 940, founder of the Chishti order proper)10.10. Abu Ahmad Chishtī11.11. Abu Muhammad Chishtī12. Abu Yusuf Nasar-ud-Din Chishtī (d. 1067)13. Qutab-ud-Din Maudood Chishtī (Abu Yusuf's son, d. 1139)14. Haji Sharif Zindani (d. 1215)15. Usman Harooni (d. 1220)

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16. Mu'īnuddīn Chishtī (1141-1230)17. Qutab-ud-Din Bakhtyar Kaki (1173-1235)18. Farīduddīn Mas'ūd ("Baba Farid", 1173 or 1175 - 1266)After Farīduddīn Mas'ūd, the Chishti order divided into two branches:• Chishtī Sabri, who follow Alauddin Sabir Kaliyari.• Chishtī Nizami who follow Nizāmuddīn Auliyā.

History

Mughal princess Jahan Ara's tomb (left), Nizamuddin Auliya's tomb(right) and Jama'at Khana Masjid (background), at Nizamuddin

Dargah complex, in Nizamuddin West, Delhi

The Encyclopedia of Islam divides Chishti history intofour periods:•• Era of the great shaykhs (circa 597/1200 to

757/1356)• Era of the provincial khānaḳāhs (8th/14th &

9th/15th centuries)•• Rise of the Ṣābiriyya branch (9th/15th century

onwards)• Revival of the Niẓāmiyya branch 12th/(18th century

onwards[10]

The order was founded by Abu Ishaq Shami ("theSyrian") who taught Sufism in the town of Chisht,some 95 miles east of Herat in present-day westernAfghanistan.[11] Before returning to Syria, where he isnow buried next to Ibn Arabi at Jabal Qasioun[12]

Shami initiated, trained and deputized the son of the local emir, Abu Ahmad Abdal.[13] Under the leadership of AbuAhmad’s descendants, the Chishtiya as they are also known, flourished as a regional mystical order.[14]

The founder of the Chishti Order in South Asia was Moinuddin Chishti. He was born in the province of Silistan ineastern Persia around 536 AH (1141 CE), into a sayyid family claiming descent from Muhammad.[15] When he wasonly nine, he memorized the Qur'an, thus becoming a hafiz. His father died when he was a teenager; Moinuddininherited the family grinding mill and orchard. He sold everything and gave the proceeds to the poor. He traveled toBalkh and Samarkand, where he studied the Qur'an, hadith, and fiqh.[16] He looked for something beyondscholarship and law and studied under the Chishti shaykh Usman Harooni. He moved to Lahore and then to Ajmer,where he died. His tomb, in Ajmer, is the Dargah Sharif, a popular shrine and pilgrimage site.

Moinuddin was followed by Qutab-ud-Din Bakhtyar Kaki and Farīduddīn Mas'ūd. After Fariduddin, the ChishtiOrder of South Asia split into two branches. Each branch was named after one of Fariduddin's successors:1. Nizamuddin Auliya - This branch became the Chishti Nizami branch. Nizamuddin Auliya taught Nasiruddin

Chiragh Dehlavi who in turn taught Khwaja Bande Nawaz.2. Alauddin Sabir Kaliyari - This branch became the Chishti-Sabiri branch.Later, yet other traditions branched from the Chisti lineage; in many cases they merged with other popular Sufiorders in South Asia. Founders of such new branches of the lineage include:1. Ashraf Jahangir Semnani - trained in the Nizami tradition; his followers became the Chishti Nizami Ashrafiya

branch.2. Haji Imdadullah Muhaajir Makki - trained in the Sabari tradition; his followers became the Chishtiya Sabaria

Imdadiya branch.

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3. Shah Niyaz Ahmad- united the Chishti Nizami order with the Qadriya order to form the Chishtiya QadriyaNizamia Niyazia branch.

As a result of this merging of the Chishti order with other branches, most Sufi masters now initiate their disciples inall the four major orders of South Asia: Chishti, Suhrawadi, Qadri, and Naqshbandi. They do however, teachdevotional practices typical of the order with which they are primarily associated.The Chishti order has also absorbed influences and merged at times with various antinomian fakir Sufi groups,especially the Qalandar. Some Chishtis both past and present have lived as renunciants or as wandering dervish.[17]

Mughal rulers

The Mughal Emperor Akbar was a great patron ofthe Chishti Order.

Several rulers of the Mughal dynasty of South Asia were Chistidevotees. The emperor Akbar was perhaps the most fervent of them. Itis said to be by the blessing of Sheikh Salim Chishti that Akbar's firstsurviving child, the future Jahangir, was born. The child was namedSalim after the sheikh and was affectionately addressed by Akbar asSheikhu Baba.

Akbar also credited the Chisti sheikhs with his victory at the Siege ofChittorgarh. Akbar had vowed to visit the Chisti dargah, the tomb ofMoinuddin Chishti, at Ajmer if he were victorious. He fulfilled his vowby visiting the dargah with his musicians, who played in honor of thesheikh.

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The passing of Shah Jahan; attending him, hisdaughter Princess Jahanara.

Akbar's descendant, Jahanara Begum Sahib, was also a devout followerof the Chisti Order.

Other notable Chisti shaykhs

•• Haji Imdadullah•• Rashid Ahmad Gangohi•• Noor Muhammad Maharvi•• Meher Ali Shah•• Mohammad Abdul Ghafoor Hazarvi•• Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri•• Husain Ahmad Madani•• Muhammad Ilyas Kandhlawi•• Ashraf Ali Thanwi•• Muhammad Zakariya Kandhlawi•• Qutub ul A'arifeen Sufi Muhammad Iqbal Madni•• Molana Peer Aziz ur Rehman Hazarwi•• Molana Muhammad Ihsan ul Haq (Raiwand,Pakistan)•• Molana Abdul Hafeez Makki•• Sufi Muhammad Sarwar (Jamia Ashrafia, Pakistan)•• Shykh ul Mashaikh Molana Muhammad Abdul Ghaffar (Kabirwala, Pakistan)•• Molana Sufi Muhammad Amjad (Baba) (Peshawar, Pakistan)

Notes[1] http:/ / en. wikipedia. org/ w/ index. php?title=Template:Islam& action=edit[2] Ernst, Carl W. and Lawrence, Bruce B. (2002) Sufi Martyrs of Love: The Chishti Order in South Asia and Beyond Palgrave Macmillan, New

York, p. 1 ISBN 1-4039-6026-7[3][3] Rozehnal, Robert. Islamic Sufism Unbound: Politics and Piety in Twenty-First Century Pakistan. Palgrave MacMillan, 2007. Print.[4][4] Sufi martyrs of love By Carl W. Ernst, Bruce B. Lawrence. Pg 4[5][5] Sufi martyrs of love By Carl W. Ernst, Bruce B. Lawrence. Pg 5[6][6] Sufi martyrs of love By Carl W. Ernst, Bruce B. Lawrence. Pg 5[7] Nizami, K.A. "Čishtiyya." Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and

W. P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2011. Brill Online. Augustana. 6 April 2011 <http://www.brillonline.nl/subscriber/entry?entry=islam_COM -0141>.[8] Böwering, Gerhard. "Cestiya." Encyclopaedia Iranica. Online Edition. Vol. 5. 1992. Web. <http://www.iranica.com/articles/cestiya>.[9] Muhammad Zakariya Kandhalvi. Mashaikh-e-Chisht. Trans. Majlisul Ulama of South Africa., available at Scribd (http:/ / www. scribd. com/

doc/ 96341849/ The-Mashaikh-of-Chisht-by-Shaykh-Muhammad-Zakariya-Kandhlawi)[10] Nizami, K.A. "Čishtiyya." Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel,

and W. P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2011. Brill Online. Augustana. 6 April 2011 <http://www.brillonline.nl/subscriber/entry?entry=islam_COM-0141>.

[11] ORIGIN OF CHISHTIES (http:/ / www. dargahsharif. com/ CHISHTISM_ ORIGIN, SCHOLARS, BAIT, BASANT, SAMA. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . htm). Retrieved on August 15, 2008.

[12][12] The Sufis of Britain: an exploration of Muslim identity By Ron Geaves. Cardiff Academic Press, 2000. Pg 87[13][13] Encyclopaedia of Indian philosophy, Volume 2 By Vraj Kumar Pandey. Anmol Publications, 2007. Pg 78[14][14] The Sufis of Britain: an exploration of Muslim identity By Ron Geaves. Cardiff Academic Press, 2000. Pg 87[15] Nizami, K.A. "Čishtī, Ḵhwādja Muʿīn al-Dīn Ḥasan." Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E.

Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W. P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2011. Brill Online. Augustana. 6 April 2011 <http://www.brillonline.nl/subscriber/entry?entry=islam_SIM-1623>.

[16][16] Haeri, Muneera. The Chishtis: A Living Light. Oxford University Press, USA, 2000. Print.[17][17] Frembgen, Jurgin Wasim. Journey to God: Sufis and Dervishes in Islam. Oxford University Press, USA, 2008. Pg 94-95 ISBN

978-0-19-547642-2.

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References• Haeri, Muneera (2000) The Chishtis: a living light Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, ISBN 0-19-579327-7• Ernst, Carl W. and Lawrence, Bruce B. (2002) Sufi Martyrs of Love: The Chishti Order in South Asia and Beyond

Palgrave Macmillan, New York, ISBN 1-4039-6026-7. Excerpts (http:/ / books. google. co. in/books?id=9gOiT_wIIlcC& printsec=frontcover& dq=Chishti+ Order#v=onepage& q=& f=false)

• Farīdī, Iḥtishāmuddīn (1992) Tārīk̲h̲-i iblāg̲h̲-i Cisht Āl Inḍiyā Baz-i Ḥanafī, Delhi, OCLC 29752219 (http:/ /worldcat. org/ oclc/ 29752219) in Urdu with biographies

• Āryā, Ghulām ‘Alī (2004) Ṭarīqah-i Chishtīyah dar Hind va Pākistān: ta’līf-i Ghulām‘alī Āryā Zavvār, Tehran,ISBN 964-401-200-3 in Persian

External links• http:/ / www. sufiajmer. net/• http:/ / www. chishti. ru/

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Article Sources and ContributorsChishti Order  Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=597201245  Contributors: AK456, Abrahamlast, Airplaneman, AjitPD, Ajmerchishty, Alex756, Alexius08, Angelo De LaPaz, Antonio Prates, Arshadparvez, Ashwini Patange, Ave Caesar, Awaisaziz, Axiom292, Barastert, Basantptolani, Bddrey, Bejnar, Bhadani, Blake-, BobF, Bobo192, Bosstopher,BrotherSulayman, Butros, CHISTHI.ZA, Cathedral77, Chishm, ChrisGualtieri, Curryfranke, DFS454, Dbachmann, Deeptrivia, Dl2000, Dougweller, Drbreznjev, Drilnoth, Editor2020,Ekabhishek, Energyworm, Ergo-Nord, Faqir baba, Flewis, Flyer22, Frehley, GoingBatty, Grafen, Hamzaisa, Hassanfarooqi, Hazard-SJ, Herbythyme, Hu12, II MusLiM HyBRiD II, IXU79,Iamunknown, Imranal, Irfan shehzad, Iridescent, J.delanoy, Jack Greenmaven, JackLuna, Jasimmahbubi, Jastrow, Johnkarp, Ka Faraq Gatri, Kashmiri, Katangoori, Kate, Katie.cluver, KazakhPol,Khaja Habib Ali Shah Hyderabad, Khubie, Khushroo23, Khushroochishty, Koavf, M a razvi, MER-C, Maqsoodshah01, Masood Alam Chishti, Metagraph, Mike33, Monkeyman, Must pervez,Muwaffaq, Napalmpk, Nawand, Nisar1000, Noormc, Okedem, Ragib, Remuel, Riddleme, Rohita, RosannaSing, ST47, Sail369, Saiyed.mohammad.faizan, Sam Hocevar, Schmloof, Shabiha,Shahab, Shahcts, Shaikhmasif3933, Shyamsunder, Siddiqui, Silver crescent, Sole Soul, Spasage, Starcrossdromeo, SwisterTwister, Syedmohammad, Talha, Te5, Theusmanhabib, Ussie1984,Vacation9, VarlamTikhonovich, Wadkdc, Wahabijaz, Wasell, Wknight94, Woohookitty, Zora, 258 anonymous edits

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